MinecraftEdu is Coming To Schools Near You

A more specific example of what has been done with this:

http://youtu.be/K5Recp9xpYY

Is that true? Because if it is, that might be fun.

If it is so easy to connect to the teachers minecraftEdu servers then if they don't set the server properly random greefers will enter the server and mess it up.

For those of you who have no clue how Minecraft can be education there are many purposes.

3d structures (like basic x,y,z graphs) (or complex 3d fractals) can be seen much more easily thanks to the beauty of the Minecraft 3d engine

Redstone in minecraft is quite literally electricity (in a rather simple form)

But sadly this will not become the medium or even close to a common practice. There are enough of "games" out there for educational purposes like bridge building

I just have one question... how can they propose this idea to schools with a straight face?

Wow. Now I'm expecting a state financed Call of Duty PEE (Politics Education Edition) to be released and introduced in every school!

The world is getting more retarded by the minute.

First of all, you people are all assuming this is a replacement for traditional education, which it clearly is not. It's an excellent supplement to build engagement, enhance creativity, and use a different learning style to reach more students. 

Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it will take off. Most schools are strapped for cash right now, and whether or not it is a good teaching method, trying to get a school to purchase a game as a teaching tool is a tough sell.

It's an interesting concept, and it may actually make an excellent tool for students, if it can inspire them to be creative.

Attempting to impart knowledge by "dumbing down the teaching medium" is not anything remotely related to smart, unless you are dealing with a 6 year old.  Any teacher or educational institution using this is actually teaching kids that "shortcuts are always okay", and working hard to achieve one's goals is undesirable.

There is a time, place, and format for using virtual scenarios and environments to teach - Minecraft for history is not one of them.

This is lame. All I need is a charismatic teacher.

This is taking it WAY TOO FAR. Games are solely for entertaintment. No, please. Keep EDUCATION away from ENTERTAINTMENT. You'll give idiots a false sense of intelligence.

Great idea, but I don't see teachers having the time to build stuff themselves.

I still dont get it, how is this educational?

Wow, That's very smart use for Minecraft. Maybe this changes Most people's opinion upon video games.

Wow thats a really cool use for Minecraft, if my teachers used that I would gladly do homework any day.

This is an amazing development in the world of gaming: involvement in education. Incredible stuff. And who were those who said that games can never be called art?

Genius.

"Today, class, we will be reenacting Lord of the Flies.  I built this small island over the weekend, and I will lock you in here in classes for the next month."

The best use for this in a classroom would be to teach creative thinking. Especially with redstone and pistons. If you doubt that, go ahead over to youtube and search for "Minecraft redstone creations" and look at a few of the results.

And then the the well-meaning science teacher finds a gigantic dirt d*** hanging over the Roman Colessium.

I think this is a great idea :)

I think it'd be wicked to do some scavenger hunts in this stuff! I believe this is really cool.

ya I love Minecrafty but this is ridiculous.... sorry but blocks don't teach you anything about what ancient Rome actually looked like....kids are ganna screw off .... not go straight to info blocks and learn.... wish they had this when I was in school though 

Or you could look at paintings, pictures, and read books you know stuff that actually teaches stuff. This is just an overly creative way to use powerpoint in my mind. Why look at boring slides when you can fly through environments. The only real practical teaching method I could see is having students play together and use a foreign language. It would teach them to use their language on the fly, but there are still better methods for this.

Why didn't they do this when I was in school. I mean I am in school, but I'm in the 12th grade, I'll be gone:(

Would most teacher's know even know how to do this? Really? Would they?

See class this is how the Romans built their cities....Billy stop trying to flood the streets......thank you.

In ancient China.....WTF, the place is on fire! Alright who poured lava on the buildings? Anyone?? Detention for everyone......

Griefers, will always grief......

I really don't know what to say about this.

Minecraft is a sandbox game, not a virtual classroom. Garry's Mod would be way better for educational purposes.

A game that can teach a lot about history and culture is Civilizzation Revolution IMHO. Not only you can associate great discoveries, scientist and other things to different cultures, but you can also get deeper into a specific subject by accessing the in-game ecnciclopedia that also has videos, images and stuff. It actually helped me writing an essay about war and nuclear weapons. But minecraft ? I think that this is just screwing around. Not only that, but computer games designed for learning already exist, they aren't even all that boring, but the truth is that teachers don't give a damn about those things.

I don't think so.

How would this ever help learning?

More Minecraft milkage...

Good idea all in all...I guess, but with minecraft? Im not sure what to feel about this. No wait, this is stupid, I just cant believe that this will work or get popular in schools. Atleast not outside the US.